Yacht Cerulean Atlantic Adventure

Vessel Name:

Cerulean of Penryn

Vessel Make/Model:

Seastream43

Hailing Port:

Gosport

Crew:

Richard & Alison Rowley

About:

Richard has been sailing for over 40 years and has done over 12000nm of coastal sailing mainly from out of Portsmouth Harbour (UK) including many cross channel passages to the Channel Islands, and north coast of France and along the UK South coast, as well as yacht charters in Greece and Croatia. [...]Richard has dreamed of sailing the Atlantic since childhood...now this childhood dream is coming true. Alison and started of sailing dinghy sailing whilst at College and is now enjoying yachting

We have both taken a year off work to sail the Atlantic in our 43' (13m) sailing yacht Cerulean of Penryn which we purchased in 2015. We are signed up for the ARC+ 2018 rally from Las Palmas Gran Canaria to St Lucia via the Cape Verde Islands

11 June 2019 | 44:05N 014:40W

A ship is safe in harbour...but that's not what they are for

12 July 2019 | Gosport

Richard Rowley

The Cerulean Big Atlantic Adventure is now over. We are moored back at our home port of Gosport in the UK, and our adventure is rapidly turning into just a memory.

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour, catch the trade winds in your sails, Explore. Dream. Discover."

These words were attributed to Mark Twain, but apparently there is some dispute over this, whoever penned by them they explain why me, and Alison undertook this adventure at this juncture of our lives...and we had a fantastic adventure, we explored, we dreamed and we discovered... we did it because we could.

Why did we do trip?
44 odd years ago when I was a lad my brothers and I sailed across the English Channel with our father in Carrick Maid a 21'6" sailing boat, we ventured across the English Channel from Weymouth towards Alderney in the Channel islands only 70 nautical miles away it was still a memorable adventure. We were becalmed for the first 24 hours and still in sight of Portland Bill, by the time we were off of the treacherous rock strewn coast and strong tidal waters off Alderney battling against the tide towards Braye Harbour, night was falling and the weather had already deteriorated into storm force winds. The Pilot Book, did not recommend approaching Braye Harbour for the first time at night nor in strong winds, we had both as well as tidal streams in excess of 5kts. Remember this was in the days before new fangled inventions such as GPS or Decca. All we had was a compass, charts, and a Seafix RDF (Radio Direction Finder) and an echo sounder for checking the depth of water, the boat did not have a log for measuring distance run, navigation was dead reckoning and estimated position. Dad, not wanting to dash us to pieces on the rocks decided that perhaps now was not the best time to approach Alderney, particularly as the small outboard motor we had for the boat did not seem to be very reliable. We turned away and headed towards Cherbourg, with the tide and wind behind us we arrived a few hours later some 78 hrs after we had left Weymouth, a couple of days later we sailed out of Cherbourg with a fair tide and wind and sailed to Alderney. We anchored at the beautiful white sandy beach, I dived off the boat into clear crystal waters, and to me this was a paradise island (even if the water was cold). This was the adventure that made we want to sail across the ocean in search of a real desert island.

For me sailing up and down the Solent, backwards and forwards across the English Channel was not doing it for me anymore. I needed to sail out past the Needles and keep on sailing west out into the Atlantic Ocean and become a Bluewater Sailor. For me this had been a dream that had consumed most of my life, eating away at me, I would be able to rest until I have fulfilled this destiny, I had been preparing for this all my life. This dream was starting to elude me.

For Alison, this was not her dream, such an adventure had never crossed her mind, and she had no notion of crossing the Atlantic. I told Alison of my dream when we first got together 5 years ago, she said I am going to make it happen for you, and she did. Together, after trolling around countless boatyards we choose Cerulean of Penryn as the boat that would carry us across the Atlantic and back again.

Initially Alison had no intention of sailing with me on this adventure, she would just fly out and meet me at exotic locations, gradually this locations became more and more, and then it was, well I might as well sail that leg with you, eventually I said if you are doing that bit and that bit you might as well do the whole voyage, and you will have sailed the Atlantic Ocean, and I would not have to sail the boat single handed. Alison's one condition of doing this trip was that she wanted to see the Swimming Pigs at Great Major's Cay in the Bahamas.

We both worked tirelessly on the boat for 2 years preparing Cerulean for the off, working on the boat nearly every weekend through sunshine and snow.

I could not have done this adventure without Alison at my side, my mate, my first mate, and the Commander in Chief.

Our adventure had many highs and lows and many emotions. Many people have asked us, what was your favourite part? What was your favourite island? For me these are difficult questions to answer. Every island we went to was unique, with its own beauty and culture and separate identity. This even applies to the likes of the Canary Islands, all Spanish islands in the middle of the Atlantic, but each islands with its own personality. This is certainly the case with the Caribbean Islands, each of the islands has this Caribbean thread running through them but each island has a differing geology, topography, and of course different colonial histories all of which has shaped the people and the culture whilst still each displaying the rich Afro-Caribbean and Creole culture and history and each fiercely proud of their heritage.

For me the parts stand out in my mind are: -
1) Sailing out passed the Needles and knowing that we will continue west and sail out in the Atlantic, I sailed out past this iconic landmark so many times before, knowing that I would be back a week or so later only having got as far as Alderney or Plymouth.
2) Seeing our first Atlantic Island, Porto Santo in the Madeira Islands, with jagged mountains towering out of the sea, reminded me of why we was on this adventure, were truly on our way, having sailed our first long passage on our own out into the Atlantic , just the two of us having sailed the 450miles from the Portuguese mainland.
3) Planting trees in memory of my Brother Damon at Las Palmas before we left for the big Atlantic Crossing.
4) Sailing at night with a billion stars overhead, the green sparks of bio-luminescence dancing in our wake.
5) The beauty of the Caribbean islands contrasted with the poverty of many of the inhabitants eking out an existence in subsistence farming and fishing.
6) Devastation in the Caribbean Islands caused by the successive hurricanes Irma and Maria.
7) Setting foot on beautiful unspoilt desert islands
8) Dolphins, whales, flying fish, Frigate birds and Longtails.
9) Snorkelling around the Bahamas in what seemed to be an aquarium packed full of tropical fish.
10) But best of all, seeing Alison's face when we eventually got meet the Swimming Pigs at Great Majors Cay in the Bahamas.
11) Meeting sailors and sailing families from all over the world.
12) Seeing the Azores for the first time after 14 days at sea after leaving Bermuda, '...only those who have seen the Azores from the deck of a vessel realize the beauty of the mid-ocean picture.' Joshua Slocum 1900 - Sailing Alone Around the World
13) Sailing back past the Needles on our way home, knowing that we had achieved our goal and arrived back home safe and sound.

We have felt privileged to undertake this voyage and to have explored the Trade Winds route around the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, following in the wake of centuries of explorers, settlers and merchant ships that sailed the trade winds five hundred years ago. We have followed the route of the slave trade, we have seen how the British and other Western Europeans raped and exploited the Caribbean Islands and used the slave trade to make the vast profits that funded the Industrial Revolution in England and made Great Britain. The storey of the Caribbean, the Slave trade and the Trade Winds is intrinsically linked to all our lives and the life we live today.

Some statistics:-
• We sailed 12,398 nm in 11 months
• We stopped at 119 different locations, mooring either at anchor, in a marina or on a mooring buoy.
• We spent 51 nights at anchor
• We amassed over 800 night hours sailing
• We Visited 26 different countries, territories or dependant states.
• We went to 56 different islands
• We spent 2,329hrs underway, which is a total of 97 days
• Average speed 5.32kts
• Despite being a sailing boat, we motored or motor sailed 32% of the way; 744 engine hours using about 3000 litres of fuel.
• We had the pleasure of having 21 different friends and family join us along way and share parts of the adventure with us.
• Richard & Alison sailed 5,878nm double handed.
• The longest passage was Mindelo, Cape Verde to St Lucia, West Indies; 2202nm; 14 days 08hrs ; Crew - Richard & Alison with Jeremy and Phil
• Longest double hand passage by Richard & Alison; Bermuda to Horta in the Azores; 1799nm 14day 03hrs.

Finally I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who helped us achieve our dream, and including everyone who followed our story on Facebook, www.yachtcerulean.com and read our posts and blogs.

Bishops Rock

17 June 2019

Richard Rowley

Passage from the Azores to the Scilly Isles

Our year-long 12,000 nautical mile Atlantic Odyssey is almost over. We have now crossed back over the Atlantic Ocean into the English Channel and are currently rolling on a mooring buoy at St Mary's Pool, which is the harbour at Hugh Town on the Island of St. Mary's in the Isles of Scilly, some 25 nautical miles south west of the UK mainland.

We have completed our last ocean passage which brought us the 1123 nautical miles from the Azores. The passage took 9 days 7 hours and 45 minutes at an average 5.02 knots.

It had been the most challenging passage of our entire voyage so far. We had a series lows passing over bringing a series of fronts and with them lots of inclement weather, strong winds and rain but fortunately nothing too horrendous. Between the weather systems we would have lulls for short periods where the wind would drop off and we resorted to motor sailing to keep the pace up. We had head winds for over two thirds of the passage with northerly winds, from north east round to north west predominately force 4 to 5 but up to force 7 at times. For much of the time we were under thick cloud with some rain and patches of poor visibility. The sea state being moderate for the most but occasionally rough.

We really only picked up the favourable northerly easterly North Atlantic current during the last few days, for much of the passage we were in the southerly Azores and Portuguese Currents with nearly a knot of tide against us.

We were pleased to have Alison's brother Richard join us for this passage. Having an extra experienced crew member made sailing life a lot easier for us, as were all able to get more sleep. With 3 hours on and 6 hours off over night and 4 hours on and 8 hours off during the day.

One thing that really struck us was how cold it got so quickly after spending five months in Caribbean temperatures. For our watches we donned full 'wets' over a couple of jumpers, two pairs of socks, beanie hat and gloves. Often the odd rouge wave would throw buckets of cold icy water over the boat usually hitting whomever was at the helm.

Fortunately we did not have to spend much time at the helm as 'Old Harry' the wind vane steering done a splendid job in skilfully steering the boat nearly all the way only resorting to the autopilot when motor-sailing.

We did not see flying fish on this passage, I think they prefer the warmer waters further south, nor did we have any squid washed on the deck. A few days into the passage we stopped seeing the armada of Portuguese Man o War floating by making their way purposefully to the west. We were accompanied for the first few days by the Petrels. These sea pelagic seabirds soaring around us and skimming along just above the waves sometimes with their wingtips touching the surface. Then the ocean seemed to be devoid of wildlife for a few days, but once we were approaching the continental shelf where the English Channel meets the Atlantic Ocean the seabirds came back we had a profusion of Gannets flying around us and dolphins swimming with us, along with a flotilla of fishing vessels, we were now back in fertile waters.
Our final day at sea was blue sky with patches of cloud. Bishops Rock Lighthouse was a welcome sight and marked the entrance to Broad Sound, the safe passage from the west through these notorious treacherous rocky archipelago to the safety of St. Mary's Pool, were we were relieved to have picked up a mooring buoy and we look forward to having a drink and good nights sleep.

We'll rant and we'll roar like true British Sailors All o'er the salt sea for we've soundings in the Channel of ol' England From Ushant to Scilly It's forty five leagues

Well not quite got sounding in the Channel of ol' England yet, but just 20 odd Nautical Miles from the edge of the continental shelf and thus leaving the Atlantic Ocean and entering the English Channel at 'Litte Sole Bank, and thus into sea area 'Sole' as we leave sea area 'Fitzroy' (formerly known as Finisterre) if you listen to the BBC 'Shipping Forecast' you will be familiar to to these names, but may not know where they actually are, well the I can tell you Little Sole Bank is about 160NM SW of Land's End. We have just crossed the 4000m contour 20NM back and nearly on the 3000m contour, then a another 20NM and then sea will shelve from 3000m to 200m over a distance of 20nm which is quite a step shelf, (have to be careful that things don't fall of it's that steep, who built a shelf like that, Slarty Bartfast know doubt). Fortunately the wind has died down to a SW f4 this morning and the sea state is 'slight', thus it hopefully will not be too rough as we cross the shelf into shallower water, I've heard tell that in these parts that in a gale the seas can be quite steep here as the North Atlantic swell breaks over the shelving sea bed.

We actually have blue sky at the moment probably 3/8ths cloud cover, and the temperature has risen from 16 to 18 deg C, oilskins off and hanging in the locker, just one pair of socks on and no jumper...almost but not quite like sailing in the Caribbean . Earlier this morning we had a nominal NW force 3 but gusting up to force 5-6 in the many rain squalls that past through. The wind has now gone round to the southwest force 4 10-12 Knots of wind, we have poled out the genoa and are on a 'run' with a fayre wynd and a kynd sea...back to this old 'trade wind' sailing again.

The wind has now picked up to 12-15kts and we are rolling like from side to side...proper trade wind sailing, stuff flying around everywhere. Suppose I better get back on deck

Bye for now.

Richard, Alison and Richard S yacht Cerulean of Penryn

if you want to see pictures or more look us up on for us at www.yachtcerulean.com facebook @yachtcerulean, instagram and if that is not enough you can always search 'Yacht Cerulean' on youtube if you are really bored.

Alison said ' do you know what? I could really do with some corned beef right now, who's turn it is to get lunch' now that is not a craving you here of every day, life on an ocean wave must be getting to her after 8 days at sea I thought. Not fancying a corned beef sandwich I volunteered 'it must be my turn'.

Now CornedBeefHashTag, is a unique recipe of mine, and contains a rather special ingredient which is not readily available 300 nautical miles from the nearest internet connection, and that is where I need your help, that special ingredient is #cornedbeefhashtag, i need all of you to share this recipe with #cornedbeefHashTag on as much social media as you can.

Not having a clue on how to make corned beef hash, i thought about what I would like in it...but it had to contain Corned Beef and of course can only contain whatever ingredients we have on board including whatever fresh vegetables we might have at the moment after 8 days at sea. Why she wanted tinned corned beef out of the emergency supplies whilst we still have fresh vacuum packed meat on board I do not dare to ask, however I rummaged through the myriad of provision lockers scattered around the boat until a found one of those rectangular truncated pyramid type tins with the little key on it. It was in a dry locker so still had a label on it.

Preparation: 1) put kettle on and make cup of tea (if moored up or at home this can be substituted by a) a can of beer or b) glass of red wine 2) Search lockers for tin of corned beef, it will be funny shaped tin with a key thing on it. (tin may be rusty if in bilge, remember if it is circular and looks like a truncated dome it is a Fray Bentos 3) Look around other hiding spots for fresh veg; 4) look around for anything else that you might be able to chuck in to make it interesting.

For best results to be made with the galley at mean angle of 22.5 degrees from horizontal but rolling 20deg from side to side whilst slamming into a heavy sea

enough for 4 for lunch or 2 for dinner but just add more veg to fill it out if you need more... Ingredients 1 x tin of corned beef 1 x handful of potatoes cut into large chunks 1 x onion roughly chopped 3 x cloves of garlic chopped and crushed with back of knife 2 x slice from a halved cabbage roughly chopped (2 large handfuls) 2 x tomatoes chopped, (use up the mangy looking ones) 0.5 x teaspoon of Easy Chilli 1 generous squirt of tomato puree 1 x handful of chopped fresh basil 1 large splash of olive oil we find that potatoes if kept in the dark keep for a long time on the boat (i am the same) , as do onions. Cabbage keeps well in the fruit net hanging in the saloon, we keep tomatoes in the fridge.

Method

1) put pan on an boil some water to par boil the potatoes
2) peel potatoes and cut into small chunks 3) peel and roughly chop onion, (watch fingers as boat slams)
3) open tin of corned beef, (swear as little tag break off because you have tuned it the wrong way) cut into chunks
4) Get your boaties frying pan out of the locker above the stove without everything falling out on you head, stove, galley sole etc.
5) Now that the pan of water has come to the boil chuck potatoes in and par boil until soft (small chunks cook quicker) 5-10 minutes
6) heat some oil in the pan (used engine oil is not advisable, I use olive oil...something to do with virgins...)
7) fry off onions in pan, add corned beef chunks and fry a little
8) add the par boiled potatoes, might need to add some more oil.
9) add garlic and cabbage 9) season with the easy chilli, salt and pepper and tomato puree mix up gently
10) after a while chuck in the tomatoes and mix gently
11) put lid on boaties frying pan, turn heat down and let it all cooked together for a while with the lid on, lift lid occasionally and gently stir it around
12) finish mug of tea
13) add chopped basil just near the end and cook for a minute longer
14) serve in a bowl garnished with facebook, instagram and twitter for best results

Tasted fantastic...best thing to do with corned beef...mmmm

remember #cornedbeefhashtag

tune in next time Cerulean bilge soup

Richard and Alison yacht Cerulean of Penryn

if you want to see pictures or more look us up on for us at www.yachtcerulean.com facebook @yachtcerulean, instagram and if that is not enough you can always search 'Yacht Cerulean' on youtube if you are really bored.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover. (Mark Twain)

I came across the above quote by Mark Twain the other day, and it about sums up why I wanted to cast off our bowlines in search of the trade winds at this juncture our life. Well I did it because I could, 5 years from now, 20 years from now I might not be able to. The notion of making this voyage had been eating away at my life and sanity for years, causing anxiety, stress and worst of all depression, the fear that I would never achieve this goal, this, the one thing I wanted to do and make my life complete was eating away at me like a neurosis, a cancer, it was making me ill. If I didn't do this I would think of my life as being a waste of time and thus I would be a failure. I never thought that at the tender age of 12 that dreaming of sailing across the Atlantic to a real paradise island in the Caribbean would be such a big deal and play such an important part of my life. I worked very hard to be able to achieve it, I climbed mountains to achieve it. No longer will I be saying 'one day I shall sail across the Atlantic', but I shall be telling people about 'when I crossed the Atlantic'.

For me, making this voyage was not about having a year long holiday in the sun, it's was not even because I like sailing. Sailing is not a passion on mine as such, it is just an adventurous pastime, that enables me to explore coastal communities at home and abroad and of course the explore the oceans, as well as exploring my mind. For me it has always been a vocation rather than a vacation. It has been my job to do this.

I wondered during the preparation and build up to this, the Big Cerulean Adventure, whether I might be experiencing Donald Crowhurst Syndrome, what I mean by that is that I had built myself up to making the life changing adventure, what if I was not ready for, what if the boat was not ready for it. There was no turning back, everyone knew that this is what I was going to do, if I did not go through with it, people would stay, 'there's Richard the sailor, all talk and no trousers, he is a quitter, talked about sailing the Atlantic, bit he has never left the English Channel.' There was only one way out, that was to do the trip whether I or the boat was ready or not. As it happens, the boat is still not ready, with a 'TO DO' list is as long as your arm, and me...I have loved every minute of it, I am almost ready to come back home, just down to 2 tablets a day (if I remember to take them) rather than the 10 a day I was on when I left.

Will this 1200 nautical mile Atlantic adventure have satisfied my wanderlust. We have less than 300 nautical miles to go to complete this Atlantic passage, and a further 200NM or so until we reach our home port of Gosport, yes, it has been an incredible adventure, but for the time being I am looking forward to going home.

As for Alison, she is an incredible person, she had lived my dream with me, it was never her dream, she just wanted my dream to come true. We prepared the boat together, sailed every mile of this adventure together and weathered every storm together. I would not have been able to do it without her...

PS I started writing this at dawn this morning when we had been reefed down weathering some heavy weather and everything was grey and grim. I went out into the cockpit to watch the colours of the sunrise, a thousand hues of orange, gold and yellow broke the grey sky, sending sheets of gold shimmering across the black sea towards me. Later the wind dropped, I unfurled the genoa, the sea was calm. Alison came up for her watch at 6am, we shook out the reefs. I was still at the mast just finishing tidying up the ropes, I noticed a splash in the water next to me, i looked around, 5, no, 10 dolphins around the boat, I went forward and sat at the bow and watched them dancing in the bow wave for an eternity...that's why we do this, you cannot experience this at home in your armchair or in the car on the M25, you have to be here.

Richard and Alison yacht Cerulean of Penryn

if you want to see pictures or more look us up on for us at www.yachtcerulean.com facebook @yachtcerulean, instagram and if that is not enough you can always search 'Yacht Cerulean' on youtube if you are really bored.

Hares and rabbits dancing across the sky That hare has morphed into a french poodle there's Dumbo and a hedgehog dancing together. but no Beethoven yet.

Our world of grim grey cloud and drizzle that has enveloped us for an eternity has suddenly given way to blue sky and fair weather cumuli,as the front passed by.

oh no, the French poodle has come apart! it's body and head separated from it's rear legs. now its head has exploded into cotton wool. The puppy has turned into piglet.

Great Britain is alone, an island by itself. No sign of Europe, I hope that's not the case. I had grown quite fond Europe, with the French Hypermarket so close.

Dumbo and the hedgehog have now passed by. The piglet is now a cat curled up. lots of indistinguishable cotton balls, embryonic as they turn into herd of wilderbeast.

What's this, a patch of mackerel sky? it beautiful for now, but what it doth bring, rain and strong winds will follow on hares are harmless, but mackerel are not

Richard Rowley Mid Atlantic 507NM SW of Bishops Rock 11/06/2019

Anyway Alison is enjoying the sunshine after such a dismal few days

Well after a few days of endless cloud, drizzle, strong winds and lumpy seas, the wind suddenly backed from NW to NE bringing with it a brief period of rain and calm. What little wind there was was pushing us nicely east to La Coruna for a while, but that is not where we want to go. If we tack we go north west, not where we want to go either, so we stick to the east, at least that is sor tof in the right direction, we need to east and we need to go north, north east would be ideal, but mother nature won't let us do that the easy way at the moment. Give it time and the wind will ease back round to the north and round a little further to the north west allowing is to lay a course north east for the Scilly Isles and the UK. We may bypass the Scilly Isles and head straight for Falmouth depending on the weather. ETA 14,15 or 16th June...maybe.

Yesterday evening it got so windy we resorted to hoisting the storm jib, with winds up to 25kts or more, along with the part furled staysail and two reefs in the main we were balanced quite nicely and making a fair progress to windward. The wind shift to the NE came at about 3am, and soon dropped off to 6-7kt of winds and our boat speed dropped to less than 2 kts. Too tired and too dark to sort the sails out we furled the staysail and resorted to the motor for a few hours til daylight. At 6am the wind had picked up we dropped the storm jib and set the genoa again, not a straight forward task as we have to sort out two sets of sheets, it took half an hour or more bouncing around on the foredeck with the bow plunging into the sea and waves break over now and then, not helped by the fact that the sole was flapping off my Dubarry sea boots, and they are only 10 years old and have only done 13,000 nautical miles, I expect better for £180 they cost. With the genoa set and reef taken out of the main and now 12-15kts of wind from NNE we were back sailing again, making some progress to our waypoint, but the wind is gradually moving back round to the north west and we are gradually getting back onto our desired course.

We are racing with a series of depressions coming through either to the north west of us or to the south east of us, and we are squeezed in the middle, hopefully we will make landfall before the next big one comes through on our track. We are expecting to get a bit of a south westerly blow for a few hours...but that is sailing for you.

Generator is not working, my sea boots are falling apart, the bilge is filling up with water, other than that all is good aboard Cerulean.

PS; in the time i have been writing this blog the wind has gone round to the NW and we are now back on course. The great thing about 'Old Harry' the Hydrovane is that he keeps us at a constant angle to the wind and goes round with it with out us having to adjust anything, we just have to keep an eye in our course and make sure that we are heading in the right direction or best course to windward as appropriate. ;^)

Richard and Alison yacht Cerulean of Penryn

if you want to see pictures or more look us up on for us at www.yachtcerulean.com facebook @yachtcerulean, instagram and if that is not enough you can always search 'Yacht Cerulean' on youtube if you are really bored.